By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: January 19,2012
Westmoreland v. High Point Healthcare, Inc. The trial court improperly denied a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration since the arbitration agreement was not procedurally or substantively unconscionable.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: November 21,2011
Capps v. Blondeau An investment firm’s practice was to scan the signature page of an investor’s contract and destroy the original after 90 days. A sample, or specimen, contract was also kept on file. Given the differences between the specimen contract and the scanned signature page from plaintiff’s contract, the trial court could find that there was no duplicate of plaintiff’s contract available. We affirm the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: November 17,2011
Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church v. Reynolds Construction Co. Even though the parties’ contracts require the parties to engage in mediation before either arbitration or legal proceedings, this does not give plaintiff the choice to forgo arbitration. The contracts’ arbitration clauses are mandatory. The mediation clause can be interpreted to mean that, if the parties agree to waive arbitration, they still must go to mediation before they go to court. We reverse the trial court’s denial of defendants’ motion to compel arbitration.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: November 2,2011
In re: Fifth Third Bank, N.A. - Village of Penland Litigation A doctor, who was compelled to arbitrate his claims against two banks after he failed to honor his personal guarantee, failed to show that the award should be vacated on the grounds that the arbitrator’s decision rested on a manifest disregard of the law.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: October 28,2011
Shearline Boatworks, LLC v. Trost Even though it was plaintiff who initiated litigation, plaintiff did not unreasonably delay its request for arbitration, it did not unreasonably avail itself of trial-oriented activity, and arbitration would not prejudice defendant. The parties will be held to their agreement to arbitrate disputes arising under their contracts. Plaintiff’s motion to stay proceedings and to compel arbitration is granted.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: October 25,2011
Fitta v. Burke Where plaintiff essentially challenges the credibility of the evidence and the weight given to the evidence by the arbitrators, such a challenge is not sufficient to show misconduct for purposes of setting aside an arbitration award. We affirm the trial court’s denial of plaintiff’s motions to vacate the arbitration award and to compel depositions of the arbitrators.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: October 20,2011
Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC v. Freeman A debtor’s challenge to an arbitration award fails since: (1) he failed to challenge the award within the three-month time period prescribed by 9 U.S.C. §12; and (2) equitable tolling does not apply because he failed to file a motion to vacate the arbitration award.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: September 12,2011
Goodwin v. Century Care of Cherryville, Inc. There were several ways for defense counsel to present the purported arbitration agreement to the trial judge at the hearing on defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. Although defense counsel merely handed an unauthenticated copy of the agreement to the judge during the hearing, the agreement had been provided to plaintiff in a verified discovery response, and the judge and both counsel discussed the details of the agreement.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: July 21,2011
Herbert v. Marcaccio The plaintiff waived her right to arbitration in a UIM action since the insurer was prejudiced by the plaintiff’s two-year time delay because it was required to spend a significant amount of resources to defend the suit which would have been unnecessary had a demand for arbitration been made earlier. We affirm the trial court’s order.
By North Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff
Published: June 30,2011
Miller & Long, Inc. v. Intracoastal Living, LLC Even though the parties’ written subcontracts included an arbitration clause, and even though the parties had already built three buildings in the project at issue, since the parties never reduced their subcontract to writing with respect to a fourth building, the plaintiff-subcontractor’s claims with regard to the fourth building are not subject to arbitration. However, even though the parties never signed the subcontract pertaining to the third building, its arbitration clause is enforceable.
NC Lawyers Weekly keeps you connected with the latest legal news, Daily Practice and Breaking
News alerts.
Sign up for NC Lawyers Weekly email alerts
Johnson v. United States Since a final decision of the bankruptcy court has already determined that plaintiff received a fraudulent transfer from her husband of his million-dollar judgment against a former employer, the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel make it appropriate for this court to reach the same conclusion.
Satterwhite v. Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P. N.C. courts have not recognized a public policy exception to the at-will employment rule based on a violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Plaintiff has failed to state a claim for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy.
Benzing v. Tharrington-Smith, LLP Plaintiff claims that defendants wrongfully obtained a background check on him for use in domestic violence and child custody matters. Plaintiff’s allegations state a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, so this court has federal question jurisdiction.
Pittman v. United States Even though the Federal Tort Claims Act does not waive the government’s sovereign immunity with regard to intentional torts, plaintiff has nevertheless stated a claim by alleging that a National Guard sergeant failed to intervene while a specialist under his command gave alcohol to a 17-year-old recruit and engaged in sexual relations with her.
An “empty chair” alienation of affection case that resulted in a $30 million award tops the list of North Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s annual roundup of the year’s top verdicts and settlements. The 2011 list comprises the 25 of $1.5 million or more that were reported to Lawyers Weekly during the year.
As American Bar Association leaders consider more exacting standards for law schools for reporting post-graduate salary and employment information, a new round of class action suits is ratcheting up the pressure on schools and the ABA to address allegations of fraud and misrepresentation.
North Carolina’s largest law firm grew by three lawyers, one city and an unknown number of Palmetto state political connections last week when Winston-Salem-based Womble Carlyle merged with the boutique firm Hall & Bowers of Columbia.
The American Bar Association in February will be asked to endorse a proposed uniform law aimed at new standards for state government websites that host legal materials. The Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (UELMA) is proposed by the Uniform Laws Commission to address a trend, still in its infancy, of shuttering public printers and posting [...]
